Today we welcome sons and
daughters of the great Arawa canoe for the second reading of
Ngā Punawai O Te Tokotoru Omnibus Bill. I am honoured
to welcome the peoples of:

· Ngāti
Rangiwewehi

· Ngāti Rangiteaorere

·
Tapuika

Tēnā koutou.Iwi eternally bound by
whakapapa, forever bound by history and today in this house,
finally bound by justice.

We remember their tupuna who
millennia ago set off from the sands of Whenuakura.

Today, their journey reaches Parliament as Ngāti
Rangiwewehi, Tapuika and Ngāti Rangiteaorere once again
work together for the future of their people.

Mr
Speaker, Ngā Punawai o Te Tokotoru is a collective
representing these three iwi of Te Arawa whose members are
based in and around Te Puke and Rotorua. While they have
negotiated some aspects of their settlements as part of Te
Tokotoru, they have signed separate deeds of settlement.

Ngā Punawai o Te Tokotoru Omnibus Bill gives effect to
aspects of all three Deeds of Settlement with the Crown
between 2012 and 2013 that will settle all outstanding
historical Treaty of Waitangi claims for Ngāti
Rangiteaorere, Ngāti Rangiwewehi and Tapuika.

The Crown brought war to Tauranga in 1864 and after
Ngāti Rangiwewehi supported their traditional allies:
290,000 acres of lands were confiscated. All customary
interests in lands returned were compulsorily
extinguished.

Mr Speaker, 100-years-later, 1966 and
in our lifetime Ngāti Rangiwewehi‘s land loss continued
with the compulsory Crown acquisition of whenua at
Ngongotaha. A pump station was built over the ancestral
Taniwha Springs which remains to this day.

The Crown
breached the Treaty of Waitangi in its dealings with the
descendents of Ngāti Rangiwewehi. Over generations lands
were lost, lives were taken and potential eroded.

The 1800s saw Ngāti Rangiteaorere drawn into the
New Zealand wars, with huge consequences. The Native Land
Court’s land policies left the Crown with lands that were
flat, fertile and easily accessible by road. Ngāti
Rangiteaorere was left with lands that were fragmented,
steep, inaccessible, uneconomic. 50-years ago, the
Tikitere geothermal field – prized by generations of
Ngāti Rangiteaorere for its medicinal, spiritual and
economic value – was taken by the Crown with the
Geothermal Energy Act of 1953: the compulsory takeover of an
ancestral waahi tapu.Mr Speaker, mai i nga pae maunga ki
te toropuke e tu kau mai ra ki te awa e rere mai ana, waiho
te whenua ko te takapu o taku tamaiti a Tapuika!

From the mountain range in the distance to the hill that
stands before me to the river that flows towards me.
Tapuika!

This ancient claim was made by the tipuna
Chieftain Tia aboard the Te Arawa waka.However the
arrival of the Crown in this rohe soon brought war to
Tia’s people, and his ancient claim along with the Treaty
of Waitangi, was broken. A series of Toa claims made by
others to Tapuika ancestral lands culminated with Crown land
alienation policies that were akin to raupatu: punishing
Tapuika for taking up arms against the Crown in the 1860s.
The land loss was widespread and severe, Tapuika’s loss
would lead to the alienation of Tia’s people from their
ancestral lands. Deprived of economic, spiritual and
cultural autonomy: generations of Tapuika families have
suffered incalculable loss.Mr Speaker, all these things
the families of Ngāti Rangiwewehi, Ngāti Rangiteaorere and
Tapuika have suffered: can never be replaced.And yet
these families wish to settle their grievances with the
Crown with mana and dignity: they honour us all with their
incredible generosity.Ngā Punawai o Te Tokotoru has
enabled all three iwi to collectively negotiate with the
Crown and to also work with each other on their individual
claims.The spirit of whanaungatanga and rangatiratanga
demonstrated by Ngāti Rangiteaorere, Ngāti Rangiwewehi and
Tapuika will enable the resolution of claims across these
three tribes.This collective approach is already being
replicated across Aotearoa, I thank Ngā Punawai o Te
Tokotoru for leading by example.So many of those who
have made this day possible are no longer with us but with
this bill’s passing their mahi and their mana will be
forever be honoured in the laws of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Today is a day to remember those who have passed on, to
resolve grievances with those who are with us today and to
plan for those yet to be born.

From the sacred marae
of Taputapuatea, to the beating hearts of Te Arawa, to the
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